Alan Summers, Recipient of the Japan Times Award (2002), haibun editor (Blithe Spirit) and co-founder of Call of the Page, a UK provider of literature, education & literacy projects, often based around the Japanese genres.
For events & workshops contact us through our Call of the Page website: Call of the Page.

Online internet courses by Call of the Page

Are you interested in a Call of the Page course? We run courses on haiku;tanka; tanka stories/prose; haibun; shahai; and other genres.

Please email Karen or Alan at our joint email address: admin@callofthepage.org
We will let you know more about these courses.

is a glorious city despite its poverty levels, and has possibly the friendliest people in Britain.

Part of the Hull Global Renga Project is to promote both the hard work carried out by Hull Libraries for its people and schools; and to show that Hull is a city worth visiting.

There are few places left where you can spend a much needed holiday or short break without being pressured as a tourist. In Hull you can truly relax, with access to great places both in the city and nearby.

If you feel you can't write a renga verse of 2 or 3 short line duration, please do send an anecdote or brief account of your time spent in Hull.

Renga is a traditional Japanese group poem that is ‘shared writing’: everyone is allowed the chance to write, or orally suggest a verse.

Renga is simply writing incredibly short lines (2 or 3 line verses) with almost teasingly invisible connections to each verse.

When completed everyone is a co-author of the renga poem.

For anyone new to renga, we'd love to receive your "micro-memories" of Hull, whether childhood memories, or very recent memories.

Renga is very inclusive, creative, and encouraging, and the making of this communal poem is as important as the final result.

More about Renga

Of all the ‘poetic forms’ this is one that works for people who have never written before, and yet offers a great challenge for those who are already comfortable and established writers.

The renga verses are more than the sum of its parts as they capture our thoughts and feelings, which might otherwise be lost at end of the day; we can also share an experience wherein strangers and friends or colleagues connect for a moment.

Alan Summers has been writing haiku and renga for almost twenty years and as a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku poetry (haiku evolved from being a renga poem’s ‘starting verse’) he felt renga was ideal for a creative writing event that involved people who might feel they are not poets.

The aim

During the project from June - December 2010 both the central and branch libraries will display renga verses; and that a sense of achievement will be given to the local community through the Press; workshops and activities; displays and readings; and an interest developed for Japanese culture.

Towards the end of the residency a finished renga poem will be available as an eBook on both the With Words website and on the Hull Libraries website, as well as a printed reference book in Hull Central Library.

Alan Summers

Alan Summers has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University; founder and director of With Words; a Japan Times award-winning writer for renga and haiku.

He has been a Visiting Tutor with the nationally acclaimed The Poetry School; ran workshops at the Royal Festival Hall (London), with Japan-UK 150 and the Thames Festival. He has run renga events at various libraries over the years.

Alan is regularly published in Japanese magazines & anthologies; and newspapers such as Yomiuri Shimbun; and Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Japan.

As an editor of renga and haiku magazines he studies Classic, Modern, and Contemporary Japanese haiku (and Western haiku); writes and performs haiku and renga, as well as organising haiku and renga events around Britain.

Alan has a CRB Enhanced Disclosure Certificate (April 2010) registered with the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) and full world cover public liability insurance cover up to Five Million Pounds Sterling.

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About Me

I'm President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society; a Japan Times award-winning writer; Pushcart Prize nominated poet; also co-founder of Call of the Page which promotes literacy and literature events.